Big Difference

Walk down the street and observe how many people you see that are happy and or smiling.  You won't find too many.  The Lord has said that all people are responsible for their own motives, attitudes, desires, and actions.  Thoughts are ideas, concepts, and images in a person’s mind. The power to think is a gift from God, and we are free to choose how we use our power to think. The way we think greatly affects attitudes and behavior, as well as our standing after this life.  Therefore you can have a pretty good idea of what kind of thoughts a person allows into their mind by observing their outward countenance.  It is amazing to me how accurate this is.  So much hinges on our thoughts and attitude.  Make those two things positive and light will flood other aspects of your life!  All of this is possible only because of Jesus Christ.  Let us use it for good.  "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."-Winston Churchill

Can We Get Out Of Debt??

Debt, economy, and government are some of the main topics of discussion in our media.  We have a hard time finding anything positive on the news.  With all the talk of debt, my thoughts were turned to the personal debt that each one of us have.  This is not a debt we have to anyone we interact with on the streets.  It is not that we owe any sum of money to any organization.  I speak of the debt that each of us has to our gracious God for the very breath we breath.

King Benjamin said it best when he was addressing his people:

19And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to ^athank your heavenly ^bKing!

 20I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the ^athanks and ^bpraise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and ^cpreserved you, and has caused that ye should ^drejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—

 21I say unto you that if ye should ^aserve him who has created you from the beginning, and is ^bpreserving you from day to day, by lending you ^cbreath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own ^dwill, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your ^ewhole souls yet ye would be ^funprofitable servants.

 22And behold, all that he ^arequires of you is to ^bkeep his commandments; and he has ^cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth ^dvary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ^ekeep his ^fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

 23And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

 24And secondly, he doth ^arequire that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately ^bbless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

 25And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were ^acreated of the ^bdust of the earth; but behold, it ^cbelongeth to him who created you. (The Book of Mormon, Mosiah 2:19-25)

I love the perspective brought by these words.  We are so indebted to our Father in Heaven and yet all he asks of us is to keep his commandments.  This debt should not feel heavy to us nor should it be a burden, but it should be a debt paid by gratitude and obedience.  Let us deal with the realities of life in a way that we do not lose the big picture and forget Him who created and owns all things.